Dear reader, 

My mind is buzzing today. I’m in this liminal space before I get the keys to Common Objects where I am working on my day to day tasks but also very focused on the shop. I am still trying to understand how much of my time and income will be taken up by this new business adventure and how much I will still do the job that I have known for the last almost decade of teaching online.

It’s all a mystery. But I am happy to report Common Objects has a coming soon page on our website where you can sign up for the mailing list. Website by Ellen Brown of New Shapes Studio (Ellen also made my personal website!), it features beautiful photos by Casey Chamberlain and branding by Geoffrey Holstad. And if you’re into social media you can follow along here.

I feel both very focused and very scattered, which I think is a bit how the weather in Michigan feels right now. I am calm and collected but also in a rush. I am measured but also chomping at the bit. I am ready for this new effort to start and also nervous about how much work it will be.

Earlier this year I adopted a system for keeping track of my time and projects that I have since abandoned. I am wanting to get back to it so that I can see the bigger picture more clearly. My system was digital and I wonder if some more analog mapping might serve me better.

I love to take pieces of paper and write out all my projects in a web of sorts to see how they all connect. I am craving time and space to do that, and through a series of events might even be able to give that to myself. While I love a residency or retreat I also love to take dedicated time in my own home to look deeper at the network of my projects.

Another liminal space I am in is that middle place of not knowing what I am doing at all and also knowing exactly what I am doing. I find that I need to be a little more organized, which I think will come as we get the keys and start setting the space up. But I also want to trust this flow, trust that I have everything I need to run a successful brick and mortar space, which includes asking people for help.

This season of my life feels exciting as I get ready to settle into less working from home and more working from a public space. I love my home, I love to be cozy inside my home, but I also have a tendency to be home more than is good for me. Tucked up on the hill in the woods I can go days without hopping in the car and getting into civilization. I think Common Objects will put me back in the center of the circle in a way that lights me up.

And my secret fear dear reader, is that I’ll hate it. That I’ll wish I’d never made this pivot or had this idea. That the truth is I am just addicted to inventing things and not maintaining them. That I won’t do the math right and I’ll calculate everything wrong and I’ll have to close before I want to. There are so many fears bubbling up in this PMDD window of self doubt.

And I have to remember : Everything is an experiment. I can bend and wiggle and move around. I can pivot when I need to. And I will choose to believe in myself, despite my hormonal waves of mistrust.

Today in my dad’s backyard I saw a deer, right in the middle of the city. I never saw anything like that growing up. Her babies in the yard next door, I watched her leap over the fence as she heard the neighbor dog barking. Something about her swift spin and elegant leap made me feel like yes, I too can move about when danger is near. I don’t have to wait until it’s too late.

Thank you for being a reader and tuning in week after week. I wish you well on your own projects and the momentum needed to sustain them. Standing beside momentum is commitment, consistency, and devotion. May the full recipe be with you.

Know that creative project you keep almost making? Let’s make progress on it, together.

I’m building a new class for people who have a pretty good idea what they want to make but have trouble finding a steady rhythm to actually work on it. Let’s not let 2026 pass without giving that creative project, that we care so deeply about, a container for growth: [GET ON THE WAITLIST]

CLASSIFIEDS : 

How to Build a Creative Marketing Plan in Notion 𖤓 Amelia of Off the Grid is partnering with Notion expert Podge Thomas for a free workshop on 10/30! RSVP here

Join Writing Nights! Weekly mini-lectures & generative writing exercises via Zoom with two bestselling and award-winning novelists. Live and recorded.

Explore newslettering the fun way—without draining your wallet—and build connections on shared values in my Newsletters as Social Networks workshop.

NEW ZINE: Get out of your way & map your path to your ancestors. Reckon w/colonialism, cultural loss, & estrangement - without getting overwhelmed. 

K.I.T. with Long Lost Letter Club : Monthly postcards, prints, zines, and more. Use code THESUN for half off your annual membership (12 postcards) until the end of the year.

Book a classified ad for next week here 

Mutual Aid : Tired of feeling numb or overwhelmed by world events? Safely channel rage into collective action. Claim your early bird bonus before 9/30.

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